Guardian of Konoha
by kazers
Summary: what if Naruto learnt shadow clones early and someone saw the potential the jutsu had? Nara Shikaku makes Naruto his apprentice! Kumo has their Jinchuuriki guardian who is the hidden village first line of defense. What if Naruto got the same mission for the leaf?
1. Guardian of Konoha

Guardian of Konoha

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author notes: So this is the first time I've ever tried to write a fanfic... I've thought on this plot for a while now and find it highly interesting. Kumo made Killer Bee their guardian. He rarely leaves the hidden village. He stays there to protect it on orders from the raikage... What if Naruto got the same mission? With his shadow clones he could make an immense difference in large scale battles...

As I said, this is the first time I'm trying writing fanfic. I don't know if I can make it into anything special but ill try my best. My goal for this is actually just to become a better writer... feel free to take the concept and use it in your own story if you believe you can make it better than me, just make sure to tell me please so I can read it ^^ Reviews are appreciated. especially constructive critic! Help me become a better writer :)

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The six year old silently ran towards the exit of the tower. On his back was a huge scroll, far bigger than the small blond boy. But it did not matter. He was determined to succeed. Mizuki-sensei had promised to teach him as many jutsus as possible starting with the bunshin jutsu he had so much problems with if he got out with the scroll! He was soon at his exit. A small vent on the side of the wall leading outside. Just barely big enough to take his small body through. He had entered the academy two years before usual so he could start on his dream of becoming hokage. So far it had not worked well. He hadn't been able to learn anything yet and was solidly dead last in class. That was why this was so important!

Suddenly, the old man dropped in front of him from nowhere. Naruto stared in shock. Mizuki had told him to not be seen by anyone! How had he known he was here!

"So… what are you doing here Naruto?" Hokage-jiji asked.

"Uuhm just taking a stroll inside the tower…?" Naruto answered lamely with a big nervous grin on his face while scratching the back of his head.

"indeed?" Sarutobi sighted. "And why do you have the forbidden scroll of sealing on your back?"

Two anbu's dropped behind the hokage, one wearing a weasel mask, and the other wearing a dog mask. Was there really any point in trying to get out now? Naruto knew he had no chance anymore. He knew no techniques, and although he had far above average strength,speed and endurance for his age he knew the older ninjas were immensely stronger and faster. He wouldn't even be able to lift his leg before they could capture him.

"Uuhm fine you caught me jiji…" Naruto looked dejectedly down at the ground. "Mizuki-sensei said he would help me with the bunshin jutsu if I brought him this scroll… I just can't get it no matter how hard I practice."

Sarutobi stared in shock at the answer he got.

"Hmm Sorry Naruto, but he tricked you, although it was quite Impressive that you managed to get it, it is forbidden for a reason. What Mizuki asked of you was to betray Konoha by stealing one of the most dangerous items in our possession."

Naruto's mouth fell open and he started stuttering.

"Wha..wha.. N-NO I didn't mean to betray anyone! He said it was just a test! I swear!"

Sarutobi chuckled " indeed I believe you. Where were you supposed to meet Mizuki?"

"in the middle of the forrest at training ground 43" Naruto answered weakly.

"Dog, Weasel, you hear that? Get moving!"

"Hai, Hokage-sama" the anbu answered immediately and left to capture the traitor and get him to Ibiki.

"come with me to the office Naruto"

It was with tears in his eyes Naruto entered the office together with his adopted grandfather. He stuttered out apology after apology all the while being comforted by the old man. Deciding to shift subject Sarutobi asked Naruto to show him his clone technique. Naruto quickly made the hand signs and called out: "Bunshin no Jutsu!". You could feel the chakra rolling of him and into the clone, which looked like crap. It couldn't even be described as human. "no wonder he can't make it" Sarutobi thought " Way to much chakra".

"The reason you can't make it is because you use far too much chakra Naruto" Sarutobi said. "Try using the smallest amount you can."

The answer shocked him. "I already am! I can't use any less!".

In that case the basic clone jutsu would forever be impossible for the boy Sarutobi thought. No matter how much he practices chakra control he won't be able to grasp it. Maybe he should teach him another, more chakra intensive clone? Maybe even the kage bunshin? He certainly had enough chakra and the fox should take away most of the mental strain with his healing abilities…

"Naruto, why don't you open the scroll and look at the first jutsu? I'll teach you the kage bunshin no jutsu!"

The next day Sarutobi calmly walked towards the meeting room. He had to call a meeting concerning the traitor Mizuki and what happened yesterday. He entered the room and found the shinobi council already waiting with the elders. He had not called the civilian council as they had nothing to say since this was shinobi matter. He quickly explained what had happened the day before. The result was quite amusing. All the clan heads and the elders had gob smacked looks on their faces. How could a six year old sneak into the Hokage tower and get one of the best guarded items and nearly escape? The betrayel by Mizuki was not so important or interesting anymore…

Danzo was drooling inwardly, the potential was staggering! What an assassin he could make!

As Sarutobi expected Danzo once again demanded to get the young jinchuriki under his wing so he could be trained. Once again it was shut down by the Hokage.

"There shall be no punishment for Naruto! How can you blame a six year old for following orders from his teacher!" Sarutobi said before anyone could propose any punishments.

"So… you say he learned the kage bunshin in just a few hours? And how many could he make?" Nara Shikaku asked, actually listening fervently for once, shocking the rest of the council. It was not often Shikaku spoke in the council, finding it to troublesome.

"Indeed he did!" Sarutobi answered proudly! "well he practiced for hours so he probably used up enough chakra for about two-hundred clones and he did not even look tired!"

The jaws of the council members dropped even further.

"Impressive…" Shikaku said getting murmured agreements from the rest of the council.

"So how come he is last in the academy then Hokage-sama? Hiashi, the Hyuga clan head asked. "With so much chakra he should be in a league of his own!"

"As proved by Mizuki Naruto is hated by the teachers there the same as he is in the village… He probably have his education sabotaged…" Sarutobi sneered.

"So why not give him a privet tutor and have him graduate early? Even if I can't have him he can still be of great use to the village as a ninja!" Danzo asked. No one could say Danzo did not care about the village… He just liked to use far more force than the average ninja.

"It would be stopped by the civilian council… They have a lot of power in the educational system, and they still fear him and spits on the fourths legacy" Sarutobi answered sadly. "The only way it would go through is if one of your clans made him your apprentice, the civilian can't stop that"

Sarutobi looked intently around the room… No one said anything although Shikaku was obviously in deep thought and the rest of the council were back to their usual selves, all pondering on if they should take the young jinchuriki as their apprentice.

"Impressive…" The jonin commander said once again. "He must have a truly ridiculous chakra capacity… And he is only six. It will grow naturally with his age so when he is twelve and ready to graduate he will probably have kage level chakra capacity if not more… If he worked on chakra control and used his chakra every day and trained it like a muscle it should grow even more" Shikaku thought out loud. "together with the Shadow clones he can be a one man army!"

Everyone was now looking at Shikaku who was in his own world before he turned to the council and said:

"I would like to apprentice young Naruto for the next six years until he is twelve!" Shikaku said with unusual fervor. "Me and my family can give him the love a child needs and help him reach his dream, we will train him to be the first line of defense in Konoha." Shikaku continued. "With his chakra capacity and shadow clones he can help hold the wall while at the same time defend strategic important places within Konoha!"

"I will work heavily on his chakra control, chakra capacity, taijutsu, target practice and the other standard ninja tools. Since he will divide his chakra into hundreds of clones he won't have enough chakra to dish out heavy damaging jutsus, at least not anytime soon so we will begin with everything that will improve his clones' combat effectiveness. He must also be taught in large battle tactics and how to lead large groups since his clones will never be able to match a skilled jonin alone, they will have to work in a group. I will make him Jonin before he turns twelve! We should also try to get him a summoning contract so he can defend against enemy summons and even other tailed demons! Although first we need to get his inhuman chakra capacity up to an incredible inhuman capacity…" Shikaku rambled on once again in his own world.

The council looked with shock at the jonin commander. Sarutobi looked at him with a huge smile on his face. "this will be interesting" He thought.

"I Agree!" the hokage said. "Turn him into the "guardian of Konoha!""


	2. Changes in life

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Author notes: Thanks for the reviews! Good to know you enjoyed the concept :) I'll try to live up to expectations but just remember this is my first fanfic ever :P started to write this as soon as I heard people enjoyed it :P please review! It would be helpfull if you could tell what I do right and what I should try to do better.

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Chapter two

As soon as Shikaku got home from the ninja council he called a full clan meeting. He would have to convince his clan about his choice. Although that shouldn't be to difficult since none of the clan had any hatred towards the small blonde. With the extraordinary high I.Q most of the clan had they easily accepted the fact that the fourth, one of the best seal masters ever except for the old Uzumaki clan, knew what he had done when he sealed away the nine-tailed fox.

Entering the meeting room he found all the clans ninja together with the adult civilians already there. The Nara clan was one of the smallest clans in Konoha, but they were well respected because of their intellect and skills in leading teams and operations. Nearly all the Jonin commanders had either been a Nara or an Aburame. The Nara clan held about sixty people. Most of them were ninjas, but there were also quite a few civilians who helped tend the deer's and make medicine. The kids were not in attendance.

The Nara clan head found out why the Hokage had looked so amused at the council when he explained what Naruto had done. The open mouths and big eyes full of shock were not something you usually saw in experienced ninja. He gave them some time to recover, before telling them about his choice making Naruto his apprentice. The room, already silent from the first bit of information, got if possible even quieter. The looks on his clan members was enough for him to begin chuckling. After a while a collective "Troublesome…" came from most of the male population, earning them a glare from the females. Strange how the male population of the clan, famous for their laziness and tactical genius, always ended up marrying strong-willed women who ended up forcing them to do their bidding. The daughers of the clan usually also ended up begin strong-willed and loud.

The clan looked up at the clan head in curiosity. They were to intelligent to start screaming and demanding an explanation. They knew it would come. And so Shikaku explained his reasoning and what he wanted to do with Naruto. After the explanation most had accepted the choice whole-heartedly, and the rest did not care.

"We got to think on the repercussions this will have for the clan though…" one of the elders said concerned. "He is quite hated by most of the citizens after all".

"It will probably be shocking when the news goes out, but I have gotten the other ninja clans from the council to promise to publicly support my decision. The Civilians will have to accept that we know what we are doing. The fact that all the biggest clans in Konoha will support us will go a long way."

Silence once again swept over the room, but Shikaku knew they had accepted his choice. His wife, Yoshiho, spoke up, proving him right.

"Will you make him make him move into the clan compound then? It is not healthy for a boy that age to live completely alone… he could use the guestroom beside Shikamaru's room." Yoshiho asked nicely, but with a steely glint behind her eyes. A no was not the correct answer here and Shikaku together with the rest of the males knew that. The women all nodded their agreement. And so the choice was made. Now to break the news to his new apprentice.

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Naruto prankster side was happy. He had woken up, eaten some instant ramen and then ran off towards the academy. And, as expected they later went outside to the training ground behind the academy to practice the clone technique. Naruto was as always called up first, with the whole class ready to laugh at his failure. The teachers were already snickering.

When Naruto suddenly called out "Mass shadow clone technique" instead of the regular shadow clone technique they knew something was not right. And their eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when they saw about thirty clones standing in the middle of the field. How was that possible? The teachers all knew about the forbidden technique, but none of them had even close to enough chakra to manage the shadow clone technique. The students too were shocked to see the dobe of the class suddenly managing the clone technique as it were nothing, and the clones even looked solid! None of them could even make more than ten regular clones! Most of them hadn't even gotten the technique down yet as it was the first year of the academy. "Yes, this is a good day" Naruto thought with a loud laugh.

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Uchiha Itachi looked on in amusement when the young excited blonde summoned around thirty shadow clones. He too nearly let out a laugh together with Naruto when he saw the looks on the faces of the teachers, but he quickly let his more professional side take over and dropped down from the rooftop, his face behind the anbu weasel mask.

"Naruto, you have been summoned by the Hokage" He said without emotion. This would be the last day of academy for Naruto.

Walking into the office he gave his adopted grandfather a huge bright smile, and a big friendly one to the other man inside the room. The other man was quite noticeable. He had two quite large scars on the right side of his face, and his hair was up in a large black spiky ponytail. He gave a small smile back.

"Hello there Naruto-kun. Weasel tells me you hade quite fun at the academy today?" Sarutobi asked with a chuckle.

Naruto scratched the back of his head embarrassed but nodded in agreement and gave out an even brighter smile than before.

"I'm one step closer to taking your hat old man!" boasted the small six year old cutely and boldly.

Shikaku had to let out a chuckle on the disrespectful way of talking to the most powerful ninja in the hidden leaf village. The two anbu's hidden in the shadow had gotten used to it by now but still found it quite amusing as always.

"So Naruto, how would you like to become my apprentice? You would move into our home in the Nara compound and stay there for at least the next six years?" The jonin commander said. No point in beating around the bush.

Naruto's eyes got wide. He had of course, as all orphans, always wanted a family. And this man was offering him one? He looked at his old man and was met with a friendly smile and a small nod.

"I would love to!" Naruto screamed out loudly jumping up and down. His caution to strangers gone with his grandfathers approval. Shikaku looked on in amusement. With that kind of energy this would indeed be troublesome, but he knew it was the right thing to do. Both for the village and for the young orphan.

"Well let us go get your stuff then." Shikaku said. "I'll explain what the apprenticeship will mean to you on the way to your apartment."

When they walked towards his apartment he got more and more excited the more he heard. This would make him even more awesome! A personal teacher with a whole clan backing him and by extension him! Although when he heard he had to drop out from the academy his hopes were about to be crushed. He looked fiercely up at the way taller man and was about to complain about how he could become Hokage if he could not go to the academy, but Shikaku was quicker.

"So Naruto, you dream of becoming the Hokage right? Do you know what is required of the Hokage?" Shikaku asked.

"Of course! You will be the one the villagers looks up to in time of need and will do everything in your power to protect the village even at the cost of your own life!" Naruto answered loudly. If there was one thing he knew, it was what was required of the Hokage. He spent some time nearly everyday with the current Hokage and his hero was the fourth after all.

"Then you will like this. With your clones you can make the perfect first line of defense. With the amount you can make you are nearly an army on your own! You can greatly help protect the walls and strategic positions within the village at the same time with your clones! Basically you can see this as training for the Hokage position. You will already be the one the villagers looks up to when they feel threatened just as the Hokage! I'll make you be one of the village most important ninjas! Shikaku said with some unusual fervor. "only if you are up to the task however…" Shikaku said quietly afterwards inwardly smirking at the young jinchuuriki.

Naruto's eyes were wide with awe. of course he would be up to the task. He had never shunned training, but he never knew what to work on. A six year old did not have much experience in training, or anything really after all.

"I'll do it!" Naruto screamed out exited.

They continued walking towards his apartment. He had gotten a family, a personal teacher, and he had gone out from the academy with a bang! This was the best day of his life so far!

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Author notes: Next chapter will see the beginning of training and some more meetings.


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